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Magunoi (British Slingers)
Magunoi are slingers, capable of showering enemy fortifications and formations with deadly slingstones. Description The sky is clear yet it is raining. A deadly hail blots out the sun as a shower falls from the sky. It falls upon the lines of the enemy with with a terrible din. Stones, loosed from a sling, sink deep into the flesh of the assembled warriors. Bones are heard to break and skulls to crack, eyes are puncture and faces transformed into distorted images of pain and agony. Such destruction, and all from a group of boys. Even Taranis, the heavenly thunderer would be impressed. The Magunoi may not stand among the battle lines of their fathers and elder brothers yet already they are renowned for the deadly menace they bring to the battlefield. Historically the sling appears to have been a favoured weapon in Iron Age Britain. It has been theorised that the increased popularity of the sling coincided with the increased use of hillforts in Middle Iron Age Britain. Excavations at numerous hillforts have found hoards of slingstones at the entrances to these sites and the mulitivallate construction techniques employed at many of the larger and later hillforts may have served as platforms on which slingers could stand, thereby hurling ammunition down on any attackers who sought to gain access to the hillfort. Whether or not this what the hoards of slingstones recovered at hill-forts actually represent is debated. However there are some qualities to slings which are not in dispute. For example, slings are a very inexpensive and easy to manufacture weapons, requiring only a strip of leather or cloth. Ethnographic studies and historical data from other communities suggests that slingers in Iron Age Britain tended to be young men or boys. Experimental archaeology has also shown that, for such a simple piece of equipment, there was a lot of variation in the way in which slings were used and the ammunition they used. Firstly there were two methods of using a sling, either horizontally, thus propelling the slingstone at great speed and with accuracy at head height, or vertically, allowing for long range and indirect shots, such as would be required to fire over the top of a hill-fort rampart. Secondly there is a variety of ammunition which can be used for a sling, with different effects being possible from different types of ammunition. In addition to using rocks, which was likely the case when attempting to kill someone, slingers also used pebbles and balls of baked and unbaked clay. It has been theorised that pebbles were likely used to drive off birds, as suggested by the Welsh legend of Lleu Llaw Gyffes (likely linked to the god Lugus) who used a stone to break a wren's leg. The British Isles are home to some birds which would have preyed on sheep and other livestock in Iron Age Britain, namely the golden eagle, but also ravens which have been known to eat sheeps eyes if the opportunity presents itself. As well as pebbles and rocks, balls of clay were also used. Baked clay balls would likely have been used in a similar way to how rocks were used; to kill and maim By contrast unbaked clay was likely used in herding animals. When a ball of unbaked clay impacts with a hard surface it shatters, but it is not hard enough to cause lasting damage. This would have been very useful in rounding up stray animals, as an exploding ball of clay on the rump of an animal would likely have been enough to bring it back to the herd. Usage The standard long range unit of the Pritanoi, these slingers are highly excellent in prolonged battles due to their high ammo supply. They are highly devastating to both infantry and cavalry and since most of the Pritanoi's enemies will be light armored barbarian units, they will be useful in a long time. They are weak both offensively in melee and in morale so keep them away from the enemy, especially cavalry that will easily kill them. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Aedui Category:Arverni Category:Pritanoi